DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's submission filed on 8 April 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 18, 23, and 27 are currently amended; no claims are cancelled; claims 2-17, 19-22, 24-26, and 28-30 are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 1-30 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 2, 13, 18, 19, 23, 24, 27, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka et al. (US 2023/0345305 A1), hereafter referred Yoshioka, in view of Lin et al. (US 2024/0031997 A1), hereafter referred Lin, further in view of WO 2020/196038 A1. A machine language translation of WO 2020/196038 A1 is provided and is hereafter referred Nakahira.
Regarding claim 1, Yoshioka teaches a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:
one or more antennas (Yoshioka, Fig. 18-20, [0124]-[0137]; the hardware structure of the terminal includes a transmitting/receiving antenna for communicating with the network); and
a processing system that includes processor circuitry and memory circuitry that store code (Yoshioka, Fig. 18-20, [0124]-[0137]; the hardware structure of the terminal includes the processor which can read a program and perform various processes of the program where the program can be stored in the storage apparatus which is a computer-readable recording medium and may include ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, RAM, etc.), the processing system configured to:
transmit, via the one or more antennas, a sidelink transmission associated with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index (Yoshioka, Fig. 15, [0102]; the terminal selects one MCS index from the range of available MCS indices of the MCS table to be used and performs sidelink transmission).
Yoshioka does not expressly teach monitor a quantity of retransmissions associated with the sidelink transmission within a time window.
However, Lin teaches monitor a quantity of retransmissions associated with the sidelink transmission within a time window (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; the UE is triggered by the higher layer to perform contiguous partial sensing in slot j to monitor slots within a sensing window for selecting retransmission resources of a MAC PD/TB within a resource selection window).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lin in order to handle resource reselection triggers (Lin, [0005]).
While Yoshioka in view of Lin both teaches retransmit, via the one or more antennas, the sidelink transmission (Yoshioka, [0072]; when the HARQ-ACK is a NACK, the terminal retransmits the PSCCH and the PSSCH using an autonomously selected resource) and (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; then the SL resources for transmitting the subsequent MAC PD/TB will be selected from the Y candidate slots), Yoshioka in view of Lin does not expressly teach the retransmitting is done selectively based at least in part on the MCS index and the monitored quantity of retransmissions within the time window.
However, Nakahira teaches the retransmitting is done selectively based at least in part on the MCS index and the monitored quantity of retransmissions within the time window (Nakahira, Fig. 3, p. 6; each MCS index has a specified number of retransmission packets which make up the transmission parameter and the transmission parameter is collected by the wireless communication information collecting unit and wireless communication is performed with these transmission parameters for unicast communication).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin to include the above recited limitations as taught by Nakahira in order to improve wireless communication efficiency (Nakahira, p. 5).
Regarding claim 18, Yoshioka teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
transmitting a sidelink transmission associated with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index (Yoshioka, Fig. 15, [0102]; the terminal selects one MCS index from the range of available MCS indices of the MCS table to be used and performs sidelink transmission).
Yoshioka does not expressly teach monitoring a quantity of retransmissions associated with the sidelink transmission within a time window.
However, Lin teaches monitoring a quantity of retransmissions associated with the sidelink transmission within a time window (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; the UE is triggered by the higher layer to perform contiguous partial sensing in slot j to monitor slots within a sensing window for selecting retransmission resources of a MAC PD/TB within a resource selection window).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lin in order to handle resource reselection triggers (Lin, [0005]).
While Yoshioka in view of Lin both teaches retransmitting the sidelink transmission (Yoshioka, [0072]; when the HARQ-ACK is a NACK, the terminal retransmits the PSCCH and the PSSCH using an autonomously selected resource) and (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; then the SL resources for transmitting the subsequent MAC PD/TB will be selected from the Y candidate slots), Yoshioka in view of Lin does not expressly teach the retransmitting is done selectively based at least in part on the MCS index and the monitored quantity of retransmissions within the time window.
However, Nakahira teaches the retransmission is done selectively based at least in part on the MCS index and the monitored quantity of retransmissions within the time window (Nakahira, Fig. 3, p. 6; each MCS index has a specified number of retransmission packets which make up the transmission parameter and the transmission parameter is collected by the wireless communication information collecting unit and wireless communication is performed with these transmission parameters for unicast communication).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin to include the above recited limitations as taught by Nakahira in order to improve wireless communication efficiency (Nakahira, p. 5).
Regarding claim 23, Yoshioka teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising: one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) (Yoshioka, Fig. 18-20, [0124]-[0137]; the hardware structure of the terminal includes the processor which can read a program and perform various processes of the program where the program can be stored in the storage apparatus which is a computer-readable recording medium and may include ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, RAM, etc.), cause the UE to:
transmit a sidelink transmission associated with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index (Yoshioka, Fig. 15, [0102]; the terminal selects one MCS index from the range of available MCS indices of the MCS table to be used and performs sidelink transmission).
Yoshioka does not expressly teach monitor a quantity of retransmissions associated with the sidelink transmission within a time window.
However, Lin teaches monitor a quantity of retransmissions associated with the sidelink transmission within a time window (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; the UE is triggered by the higher layer to perform contiguous partial sensing in slot j to monitor slots within a sensing window for selecting retransmission resources of a MAC PD/TB within a resource selection window).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lin in order to handle resource reselection triggers (Lin, [0005]).
While Yoshioka in view of Lin both teaches retransmit the sidelink transmission (Yoshioka, [0072]; when the HARQ-ACK is a NACK, the terminal retransmits the PSCCH and the PSSCH using an autonomously selected resource) and (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; then the SL resources for transmitting the subsequent MAC PD/TB will be selected from the Y candidate slots), Yoshioka in view of Lin does not expressly teach the retransmitting is done selectively based at least in part on the MCS index and the monitored quantity of retransmissions within the time window.
However, Nakahira teaches the retransmission is done selectively based at least in part on the MCS index and the monitored quantity of retransmissions within the time window (Nakahira, Fig. 3, p. 6; each MCS index has a specified number of retransmission packets which make up the transmission parameter and the transmission parameter is collected by the wireless communication information collecting unit and wireless communication is performed with these transmission parameters for unicast communication).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin to include the above recited limitations as taught by Nakahira in order to improve wireless communication efficiency (Nakahira, p. 5).
Regarding claim 27, Yoshioka teaches an apparatus (Yoshioka, Fig. 18-20, [0124]-[0137]; the hardware structure of the terminal includes the processor which can read a program and perform various processes of the program where the program can be stored in the storage apparatus which is a computer-readable recording medium and may include ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, RAM, etc.) for wireless communication, comprising:
means for transmitting a sidelink transmission associated with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index (Yoshioka, Fig. 15, [0102]; the terminal selects one MCS index from the range of available MCS indices of the MCS table to be used and performs sidelink transmission).
Yoshioka does not expressly teach means for monitoring a quantity of retransmissions associated with the sidelink transmission within a time window.
However, Lin teaches means for monitoring a quantity of retransmissions associated with the sidelink transmission within a time window (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; the UE is triggered by the higher layer to perform contiguous partial sensing in slot j to monitor slots within a sensing window for selecting retransmission resources of a MAC PD/TB within a resource selection window).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lin in order to handle resource reselection triggers (Lin, [0005]).
While Yoshioka in view of Lin both teaches means for retransmitting the sidelink transmission (Yoshioka, [0072]; when the HARQ-ACK is a NACK, the terminal retransmits the PSCCH and the PSSCH using an autonomously selected resource) and (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; then the SL resources for transmitting the subsequent MAC PD/TB will be selected from the Y candidate slots), Yoshioka in view of Lin does not expressly teach the retransmitting is done selectively based at least in part on the MCS index and the monitored quantity of retransmissions within the time window.
However, Nakahira teaches the retransmission is done selectively based at least in part on the MCS index and the monitored quantity of retransmissions within the time window (Nakahira, Fig. 3, p. 6; each MCS index has a specified number of retransmission packets which make up the transmission parameter and the transmission parameter is collected by the wireless communication information collecting unit and wireless communication is performed with these transmission parameters for unicast communication).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin to include the above recited limitations as taught by Nakahira in order to improve wireless communication efficiency (Nakahira, p. 5).
Regarding claims 2, 19, 24, and 28, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1, the method of claim 18, the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, and the apparatus of claim 27 above. Hahn does not expressly teach wherein the time window is fixed.
However, Lin teaches wherein the time window is fixed (Lin, Fig. 6, [0058]; a sensing window between slot (j+TA) and slot (j+TB)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hahn to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to perform control to handle an inter-UE collision between sidelink transmission and downlink/uplink transmission (Li, [0006]).
Regarding claim 13, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin does not expressly teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on a table that maps the MCS index to a retransmission quantity.
However, Nakahira teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on a table that maps the MCS index to a retransmission quantity (Nakahira, Fig. 3, p. 6; each MCS index has a specified number of retransmission packets which make up the transmission parameter and the transmission parameter is collected by the wireless communication information collecting unit and wireless communication is performed with these transmission parameters for unicast communication).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin to include the above recited limitations as taught by Nakahira in order to improve wireless communication efficiency (Nakahira, p. 5).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hahn et al. (US 2023/0099975 A1), hereafter referred Hahn. Hahn was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 4 March 2025.
Regarding claim 14, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein a congestion level associated with the UE is associated with a priority threshold, and wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on a priority of the sidelink transmission not satisfying the priority threshold.
However, Hahn teaches wherein a congestion level associated with the UE is associated with a priority threshold, and wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on a priority of the sidelink transmission not satisfying the priority threshold (Hahn, [0125]-[0128]; the sidelink data may be repeatedly transmitted n times by using a resource scheduled for transmission of other sidelink data (i.e. sidelink data having a lower priority)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Hahn in order to meet high priority sidelink data requirements (Hahn, [0123]).
Claims 3, 17, 20, 25, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira as applied to claims 1, 18, 23, and 27 above, and further in view of Lee et al. (US 2020/0178290 A1), hereafter referred Lee.
Regarding claims 3, 20, 25, and 29, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1, the method of claim 18, the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, and the apparatus of claim 27 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein the time window is based at least in part on a periodicity of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) grant associated with the sidelink transmission.
However, Lee teaches wherein the time window is based at least in part on a periodicity of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) grant associated with the sidelink transmission (Lee, [0186]-[0190]; the counting of expected collisions within the window can be applied to UE with sidelink SPS configuration or to UE configured with periodical resources).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lee in order to efficiently transmit and receive a signal for sidelink communication (Lee, [0025]).
Regarding claim 17, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to refrain from retransmitting the sidelink transmission, and the one or more processors, to cause the UE to refrain from retransmitting the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to remove one or more resources from a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) grant associated with the sidelink transmission.
However, Lee teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to refrain from retransmitting the sidelink transmission, and the one or more processors, to cause the UE to refrain from retransmitting the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to remove one or more resources from a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) grant associated with the sidelink transmission (Lee, [0186]-[0190]; the counting of expected collisions within the window can be applied to UE with sidelink SPS configuration or to UE configured with periodical resources).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lee in order to efficiently transmit and receive a signal for sidelink communication (Lee, [0025]).
Claims 4, 5, 21, 22, 26, and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira as applied to claims 1, 18, 23, and 27 above, and further in view of Wu et al. (US 2022/0150150 A1), hereafter referred Wu.
Regarding claims 4, 21, 26, and 30, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1, the method of claim 18, the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, and the apparatus of claim 27 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein selectively retransmitting the sidelink transmission includes refraining from retransmitting the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the quantity of retransmissions not satisfying a retransmission quantity threshold.
However, Wu teaches wherein selectively retransmitting the sidelink transmission includes refraining from retransmitting the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the quantity of retransmissions not satisfying a retransmission quantity threshold (Wu, [0113]-[0114]; the UE may consider retransmissions based on a timeout threshold and a maximum quantity of retransmissions that fall within an interval).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wu in order to evaluate transmission performance related to a network node (Wu, [0002]).
Regarding claims 5 and 22, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1 and the method of claim 18 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein selectively retransmitting the sidelink transmission includes selectively retransmitting the sidelink transmission based at least in part on a counter or a timer.
However, Wu teaches wherein selectively retransmitting the sidelink transmission includes selectively retransmitting the sidelink transmission based at least in part on a counter or a timer (Wu, [0113]-[0114]; the UE may consider retransmissions based on a timeout threshold and a maximum quantity of retransmissions that fall within an interval).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wu in order to evaluate transmission performance related to a network node (Wu, [0002]).
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Wu as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Freda et al. (US 2021/0014791 A1), hereafter referred Freda.
Regarding claim 6, Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Wu teaches the UE of claim 5 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Wu does not expressly teach wherein the counter or the timer is based at least in part on a speed associated with the UE.
However, Freda teaches wherein the counter or the timer is based at least in part on a speed associated with the UE (Freda, [0195]-[0201]; UE speeds exceeds or is below a certain value and expiry of a timer related to UE activity are triggers that can impact the UE operation of processing retransmissions).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Wu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Freda in order to manage power consumption during operational needs (Freda, [0217]).
Regarding claim 7, Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Wu teaches the UE of claim 5 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Wu does not expressly teach wherein the counter or the timer is based at least in part on a plurality of speeds associated with a plurality of UEs including the UE.
However, Freda teaches wherein the counter or the timer is based at least in part on a plurality of speeds associated with a plurality of UEs including the UE (Freda, [0195]-[0201]; UE speeds exceeds or is below a certain value and expiry of a timer related to UE activity are triggers that can impact the UE operation of processing retransmissions).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Wu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Freda in order to manage power consumption during operational needs (Freda, [0217]).
Claims 8-12, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of CN 119232181 A, hereafter referred Yu.
Regarding claim 8, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to refrain from retransmitting the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the MCS index not satisfying an MCS index threshold.
However, Yu teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to refrain from retransmitting the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the MCS index not satisfying an MCS index threshold (Yu, p. 8, paragraph 2 – p. 9, paragraph 3; the current service is in the appointed service range and the MCS index value corresponding to the base station is higher than or equal to the index value threshold, determining that there is no target service).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yu in order to determine the working mode of the RRU (Yu, p. 3, paragraph 9).
Regarding claim 9, Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Yu teaches the UE of claim 8 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein the MCS index threshold is based at least in part on a congestion level.
However, Yu teaches wherein the MCS index threshold is based at least in part on a congestion level (Yu, p. 8, paragraph 2 – p. 9, paragraph 3; the MCS index value threshold value varies and be provided with multiple congestion time thresholds to determine the congestion level division of congestion degree based on multiple congestion time thresholds).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yu in order to determine the working mode of the RRU (Yu, p. 3, paragraph 9).
Regarding claim 10, Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Yu teaches the UE of claim 8 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to transmit the sidelink transmission with a transmission power that is based at least in part on the MCS index.
However, Yu teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to transmit the sidelink transmission with a transmission power that is based at least in part on the MCS index (Yu, p. 8, paragraph 2 – p. 9, paragraph 3; the MCS index value threshold value varies and be provided with multiple congestion time thresholds to determine the congestion level division of congestion degree based on multiple congestion time thresholds).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yu in order to determine the working mode of the RRU (Yu, p. 3, paragraph 9).
Regarding claim 11, Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Yu teaches the UE of claim 8 above. Further, Yoshioka teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to transmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to transmit the sidelink transmission via one subchannel (Yoshioka, Fig. 13; PSFCH#B, PSFCH#C, PSFCH#D are depicted transmitted on subchannel #0).
Regarding claim 12, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the MCS index satisfying an MCS index threshold.
However, Yu teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the MCS index satisfying an MCS index threshold (Yu, p. 8, paragraph 2 – p. 9, paragraph 3; the current service is in the appointed service range and the MCS index value corresponding to the base station is lower than the index value threshold, determining that there is target service).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yu in order to determine the working mode of the RRU (Yu, p. 3, paragraph 9).
Regarding claim 16, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein a priority of the sidelink transmission is associated with a plurality of congestion ranges including a congestion range associated with the UE, and wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the congestion range.
However, Yu teaches wherein a priority of the sidelink transmission is associated with a plurality of congestion ranges including a congestion range associated with the UE, and wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the congestion range (Yu, p. 8, paragraph 2 – p. 9, paragraph 3; the MCS index value threshold value varies and be provided with multiple congestion time thresholds to determine the congestion level division of congestion degree based on multiple congestion time thresholds).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yu in order to determine the working mode of the RRU (Yu, p. 3, paragraph 9).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira as applied to claim 1 above, and in view of Hahn, further in view of Yu.
Regarding claim 15, Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira teaches the UE of claim 1 above. Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira does not expressly teach wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the priority of the sidelink transmission.
However, Hahn teaches wherein the one or more processors, to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission, are configured to cause the UE to selectively retransmit the sidelink transmission based at least in part on the priority of the sidelink transmission (Hahn, [0125]-[0128]; the sidelink data may be repeatedly transmitted n times by using a resource scheduled for transmission of other sidelink data (i.e. sidelink data having a lower priority)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin further in view of Nakahira to include the above recited limitations as taught by Hahn in order to meet high priority sidelink data requirements (Hahn, [0123]).
Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Hahn does not expressly teach wherein the priority of the sidelink transmission is associated with an MCS index threshold and a transmission power, and wherein a congestion level associated with the UE is associated with a plurality of priorities including a priority of the sidelink transmission.
However, Yu teaches wherein the priority of the sidelink transmission is associated with an MCS index threshold and a transmission power, and wherein a congestion level associated with the UE is associated with a plurality of priorities including a priority of the sidelink transmission (Yu, p. 8, paragraph 2 – p. 9, paragraph 3; the MCS index value threshold value varies and be provided with multiple congestion time thresholds to determine the congestion level division of congestion degree based on multiple congestion time thresholds).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Yoshioka in view of Lin in view of Nakahira further in view of Hahn to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yu in order to determine the working mode of the RRU (Yu, p. 3, paragraph 9).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RODRICK MAK whose telephone number is (571)270-0284. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30 am - 5:30 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached at 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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